Mallya ready to pay back ` 4,000cr by Septem­ber

LOANS OF ` 6,903CR Lawyers make of­fer to con­sor­tium of 17 banks in SC

NEW DELHI: Em­bat­tled liquor ty­coon Vi­jay Mallya of­fered on Wed­nes­day to re­pay more than half of the Rs7,000 crore his nowde­funct air­line owes cred­i­tors, sig­nalling that debt re­cov­ery pres­sures from banks as well as a money laun­der­ing probe against him may be work­ing.

Mallya’s lawyers told the Supreme Court that he is ready to pay by Septem­ber Rs4,000 crore of the Rs6,903 crore taken as loans by King­fisher Air­lines (KFA). The of­fer will be a mix of cash and pledged shares of some of Mallya’s com­pa­nies.

As on date, KFA owes Rs9,300 crore to banks and var­i­ous gov­ern­ment de­part­ments in loans, in­ter­ests and other dues.

The of­fer was made to a con- sor­tium of 17 banks — led by the State Bank of In­dia (SBI) — that ap­proached the top court last month to re­cover its dues.

The court gave a week’s time to the banks to re­spond to Mallya’s of­fer. “If you want to re­ject it, do so,” the bench com­pris­ing jus­tices Kurian Joseph and RF Na­ri­man told the State Bank of In­dia coun­sel. The court will hear the case next on April 7.

Mallya’s lawyers said an ad­di­tional Rs2,000 crore will be paid if KFA wins two civil suits in Ban­ga­lore and Bri­tain. “Banks should con­sider se­ri­ously what has been of­fered to them,” Mallya’s coun­sel told the court, adding that the pro­posal was sent to the SBI chair­per­son on Wed­nes­day morn­ing. Mallya’s coun­sel asked the pro­posal to be kept a se­cret as the “me­dia vi­ti­ates the at­mos­phere.”